Not a Pretty Picture review – Martha Coolidge’s recreation of her rape remains shockingly powerful

Martha Coolidge’s overwhelmingly candid and courageous personal docudrama from 1976 is a pioneering study of rape made more powerful by the radical modes of scrutiny that she devised. Coolidge set out to dramatise the key moments leading up to and following the rape she survived a decade or so before, as a teen co-ed, by a fellow student. The rapist is shown driving her and a bunch of other students to a party in New York. He insists they stop off at a certain, dilapidated apartment on the way; this is where the crime happens, and it is made worse in the aftermath by bullying from malicious girls in a neighbouring dorm and the insidious misjudged condescension from the dean when he hears the rumours.

The film gives us these scenes, but also fly-on-the-wall sequences of the film-maker discussing the project with the actors, rehearsing and improvising. These latter scenes are at such length that you are invited to wonder if this is the main (fictional) event. The lead (Michele Manenti), playing “Martha”, is open about having been subjected to a similar date rape, and her dorm-mate, Anne, is played by Anne Mundstuk, Coolidge’s actual dorm-mate at the time. The rapist “Curly” is played by Jim Carrington, an actor who later gained prominence in 80s teen movies and as a screenwriter. Unconsciously, he makes the rape scene even more horrendous by speaking to the director on-camera in a later, separate instance about how he can see Curly’s point of view and how men are allegedly at the mercy of their own urges in the moment. After that unwatchably horrible scene, Carrington confesses to feeling such rage at his victim that he wanted to punch her in the face.

Could a movie of such unselfconscious daring be made today? It’s not clear. But the riding-in-the-car sequence has an ominous queasiness for the audience who know where it is leading. This movie is an interesting corrective, arguably, to more innocent films about the era such as American Graffiti and it reminded me of the chilling pre-rape car ride in Mary Harron’s The Notorious Bettie Page from 2005. It is a brilliant Brechtian experiment and an essential filmic document.

Not a Pretty Picture is on Mubi from 1 July.